The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS)

Purpose: Identify speech and language delays and impairments in very young children

Age: 3-7 years

Time: 35-60 minutes

The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS) provides an overview of a child’s language ability. It can be used for guiding intervention and to evaluate the effectiveness of those interventions.

The NRDLS provides diagnostic information about a child’s production and understanding of spoken language.

There are two scales in the NRDLS: one explores aspects of a child’s understanding of selected vocabulary items and grammatical features (the Comprehension Scale); and the other examines the child’s production of the same features of language (the Production Scale). Parallel sections within the scales aid comparison of a child’s comprehension and production skills.

Key Features

• The assessment tests both production and understanding of language – abilities that are key to child development
• The new edition includes the Multilingual Toolkit, an additional handbook giving guidance on how to adapt and use the NRDLS with children for whom English is an Additional Language
• The new edition retains a mix of play-based activities with a range of stimulus material which includes a trio of appealing characters that children can handle and 'direct' as they carry out many of the assessment tasks
• NRDLS has been standardised on a sample of 1,200 children in the United Kingdom
• Less stimulus items make NRDLS quicker and more straightforward to administer, with full colour illustrations presented in an easy-to-use easel format
• The Comprehension Scale and the Production Scale have been more closely aligned for easier comparison of the two skill sets
• The play-based format has been retained with appealing and engaging stimulus material, including the characters of monkey, teddy and rabbit.